Superman: The Secrets of the Fortress of Solitude [Paperback]

Undoubtedly, this tome contains some canonical stories about the secrets of the Fortress of Solitude. We see the Fortress's first appearance in Superman #17; then we get three stories where Superman flashbacks to reexamine the history of the Fortress, its previous locations, and importance of several items in the Fortress while the Fortress was in danger, or the source of threat to humanity (Fortress of Fear). Later we have an interesting issue about Krypton's past (Memories of Krypton's Past) albeit it isn't about the Fortress, and in my opinion, the best story in this collection. Finally, we have a story of the reconstruction of the Fortress by Superman and Steel. However, I felt that other issues were missing that could have been important to this collection. For example, there is a Superman issue that shows the first time the Fortress is located in the Arctic, there is the issue where the Fortress is destroyed, not to mention that the Fortress has changed to other locations. In sum, considering the importance of the Fortress to the Superman myth, I felt the volume deserved an omnibus treatment rather than these 200 pages. The book also lacks any introduction about the Fortress, making references to different issues where the Fortress is important. For the above reasons, I do not consider this tome important for a collector, or non collector. I give it three stars because the stories are fun and entertaining, they do talk about the Secrets of the Fortress, they explain why this citadel is important to Superman, and they are offered in full color. Nevertheless, it falls short from "I liked it" because I felt that it was a half-hearted gesture from DC publishers.

In addition, considering the brief treatment on this subject, a Superman fan may be better off getting these stories from the Chronicles, the different Showcase editions, and recent graphic novels from the post-nineties period.

Note: I had read the above review before purchasing this book and thought it twice because of the warning on the pages that were upside down. It may have been some error at the printing house because my edition did not contain this error. I have no complaints as to the publishing quality.

I miss the 70's Superman.

This trade paperback compiles some of the Man of Steel's greatest stories featuring his Fortress of Solitude. While this collection is pretty good, there are a few more I wish had been included in their entirity.

Both Pre- and Post- Crisis versions of the Fortress are included here, which might be confusing to unfamilar readers. What would even be more confusing is if we went into the the new "52" version of the Fortress. The idea of making the Fortress a Tardis-like or a Tesseract, I find very, very intriguing.

Like some recent collections of past stories, a preface or introduction is missing which would have explained the stories's context and/or why these particular tales were chosen. I miss hearing about the selection process.

Love the seventies art, and I've really come to enjoy Roy Thomas's past Man of Steel adventures. He must have had fun doing these stories. Back than, Superman was much more of Boy Scout, and I loved him for it.

Modern readers may not care for these twenty-year old stories, but these bring back fond memories of summer days and going over those huge tabloid comic books.

Sincerely,

JThree
Williston ND
carolyn3@midco.net

Fun little trip back to a seemingly simpler era. Remember when you actually wanted the stories to be a bit more detailed & involved? Most of these are those stories! Today DC still does a superb job with the Batman stories,but Superman is kind of hit and miss now. Too many storylines are dragged out now,til the endings are ant-climatic. Not so with this collection. Short & to the point,just fascinating inspired stories,that are one-shots,most of which should have been full books. OK,sounds like I want it both ways. Somewhere in the middle,DC can get it right(Certwainly sometimes they do). Tell the stories,don't drag it out too much to make extra sales to up the quality. I'd love to see DC take some of these old inspired stories and expand on them just enough; in some cases 64-80 pg Giant length some full TPB length. The stories are in the vault,just awaiting that fleshing out and could be presented in Todays artwork formats or in some cases drawn in silver-age style..Hopefully some with the original stories that inspired the novel & the novel all in the same TPB. They've done this before & it works very well!